Talk to Strangers!

Because the internet wasn't scary enough already...

The cute, innocent gateway to hell....

I don't have a job. (Right now). I'm trying to find one, but it's difficult.. you know?

And like most people without jobs, that means I have no money. And people without money tend to not do things. I spend a lot of time at home, and since most of my roommates work or go to school, I tend to be alone quite often.

This doesn't really bother me. I'm an only child, so I spent a good chunk of my childhood alone - and it's actually the part of my day I enjoy the most. I spend it reading, writing, drawing, playing video games, whatever  - it's sort of zen, I guess. K-time. It's good, in moderate doses.

And that's the problem, dear reader. I find I'm alone more often than I'd like these days. This lead to a few things: more frequent blog entries, more twitter updates, about twice as many wall posts, and more MSN window conversations. It's a hard life.

That's why my interest was slightly peaked this week when I found out about Omegle. A chat service created this year by an 18 year old (sigh). Basically, it's AOL minus the user names, but more specifically, this is how it works:

Load up the front page, and click the cute little "Start A Chat" button, dead centre. Next, a window will appear, and set you up with your chatting partner. There's no selection involved here, everything is completely random. Pretty soon you're talking to a stranger.

I spent about an hour on the site, seeing if I could scrounge up any real conversation... My results after the jump.

And so it begins...

For the entirety of this article, blue "You" is me, red "Stranger" is the person I'm talking to anonymously.I started up, and was greeted rather abruptly.

This person was so hungry for a cyber session, he couldn't even wait for me to respond. I decided it must have been a fluke, and started up a new conversation...

I'm not entirely sure we ever got the show Kenan & Kel in Canada, but correct me if I'm wrong.

I tried again....

...well.... that was discouraging....

Hmm... I wonder what that guy was looking for.

It was about this point in the experiment I was beginning to lose hope. I had been sexually propositioned, racially discriminated, and more....

I decided to try one more conversation. Desperate, I used a different approach, I decided to get more aggressive with my intentions, since everyone else seemed to be...

And that's all it took.

I had found a kindred spirit across the interbutts. The two of us were lost in life, and just looking for direction. That conversation continued for about twenty minutes before the person (still don't know the sex) had to leave.

It was great. We talked about CSI, Firefighting, and the FBI, as well as where each other wanted to get work, our future career aspirations, even what we had to eat that day.

I'll never talk to that person again, but that's okay. Our conversation seemed almost more heartfelt since neither of us had the sort of agenda one creates when they know they're forming a relationship with a real person. This was simply interaction on one fundamental level - the exchange of ideas. Period. It was refreshing.

In conclusion...

I suppose a website like Omegle fights an uphill battle. The internet thrives on anonymity, and people tend to abuse it wherever they can. So when a service like this shows up, why not just treat it like 4chan? Well, most people do.

But in the end, Omegle does nothing more or less than advertised. It gives you the opportunity to meet people across the world, across cultures, and across ideologies. Whether the experience is good or bad is up to you - you get exactly what you put into it. So if you're depressed, lonely, or just plain bored, I suggest you give it a shot - what have you got to lose?

-K

Comments

[Mena]

Man, that's a good post. I definitely laughed my ass off at all those conversations - but its interesting to see what people will do when given the opportunity to have a totally anonymous conversation. It sucks that it usually (seems) to turn to sex or stupidity, but you seem to have found a golden moment.

[J.Mack]

Thanks for the comment!

And yeah, I sifted through a lot of garbage before coming across something worth while - then again, I guess that's kind of what real friendships are like too!

[The brown guy upstairs.]

Thats true. I guess that leads to the question - why is there so much garbage out there? Why arent other people looking for meaningful things? Or are they?